Agfa HealthCare performed in line with earlier expressed expectations, in spite of the economic crisis. The business group's sales decreased by only 1.0 percent to 291 million Euro. The markets for X-ray film and hardcopy film evolved in line with the trend of the previous quarters. Due to the crisis, some care organizations are postponing their investments in Computed Radiography (CR) equipment. Despite the weak economic conditions, Imaging IT and Enterprise IT performed markedly better than in the first months of 2008. Agfa HealthCare's consumable margins suffered from production inefficiencies due to the lower use of the Groups production capacity. As planned, Agfa HealthCare further reduced its SG&A expenses by 10 million Euro compared to the first quarter of 2008. As a result, recurring EBITDA amounted to 39.0 million Euro (or 13.4 percent of sales). Recurring EBIT improved by 51.8 percent to 25.5 million Euro, or 8.8 percent of sales.
Agfa HealthCare took an important step in its strategy to strengthen the imaging segment with new solutions. At the European Congress of Radiology (Vienna, Austria), the business group showcased its new DX-D line of Direct Radiography (DR) solutions. These solutions are complementary to Agfa HealthCare's leading range of CR systems. Today, Agfa HealthCare is able to offer every healthcare facility of any size the right radiography solution.
In the first quarter, Agfa HealthCare again signed a number of important contracts for its IMPAX 6 PACS (Picture Archiving and Communication System). ENELMED, a leading private healthcare provider in Poland, selected IMPAX to serve the needs of its 7 medical centers. The organization also ordered 8 CR systems and 7 hardcopy printers. The Bulgarian Ministry of Health selected Agfa HealthCare for the integration of diagnostic imaging at four leading hospitals.
In Canada, the government of the Northwest Territories selected IMPAX to connect the four main hospitals in the region. In a later stage, 18 community health centers will also be connected to the network. Beaumont Hospitals (Royal Oak, Michigan, USA) will expand its IMPAX PACS to include IMPAX Cardiovascular. After the completion of the project, the hospital group will be one of Agfa HealthCare's largest integrated cardiology-radiology PACS implementations in North America. Still in the USA, Agfa HealthCare's latest solution, IMPAX Data Center, was deployed successfully across the 7 hospitals and the 35 health clinics of Oschner Health System of New Orleans, Louisiana, allowing any clinician easy access to imaging data, regardless of its originating department or hospital facility.
In January, Agfa HealthCare announced that it had signed a cooperation agreement with the Government of Ontario (Canada) concerning the expansion of the business group's R&D and regional operation centers in Toronto and Waterloo.
In Enterprise IT, a number of important contracts were signed in several countries which Agfa HealthCare is targeting with its ORBIS solution. The focus is currently on Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Belgium and Luxembourg. In these countries, Agfa HealthCare is the clear leader in contracts awarded for clinical information systems.
Related news articles:
- Agfa HealthCare's Profile
About Agfa
The Agfa-Gevaert Group is one of the world's leading imaging and information technology companies. Agfa develops, manufactures and markets analogue and digital systems for the printing industry (Agfa Graphics), the healthcare sector (Agfa HealthCare) and specific industrial applications (Agfa Materials). Agfa's headquarters are in Mortsel, Belgium. The company is present in 40 countries and has agents in another 100 countries throughout the world. The Agfa-Gevaert Group achieved a turnover of 3,283 million Euro in 2007.
About Agfa HealthCare
Agfa HealthCare, a member of the Agfa-Gevaert Group, is a leading provider of IT-enabled clinical workflow and diagnostic image management solutions, and state-of-the-art systems for capturing and processing images in hospitals and healthcare facilities. Agfa HealthCare has over a century of healthcare experience related to diagnostic imaging and has been a pioneer on the healthcare IT market since the early 1990's. The HealthCare division has sales offices and agents in over 100 markets worldwide. Sales for Agfa HealthCare in 2007 were 1,392 million Euro, accounting for 43% of total group sales. For more information on Agfa HealthCare, please visit www.agfa.com/healthcare.